With the close of the American Revolution, Americans imagined an open, hospitable commercial system in which trade was free and ports were open, with unlimited opportunities for the benefit of all countries. Since American merchants were no longer under the protection of the British flag, they were subject to the same problems in the Mediterranean Sea that Europeans had been confronting for centuries. Without a strong navy, and without the temporary protection afforded by regular payments of tribute, their ships were subject to seizure and loss of cargo. Their crews were subject to capture as hostages and sale into slavery. Newpapers carried whatever stories were available of Barbary pirates. Each occurrence was viewed at home as an outrage against long-conventional concepts of international law. In this environment, American readers began perceiving the remote Ottoman empire and the Barbary states of North Africa as a part of their own world.

This Dutch compendium, here translated into German, of the world’s greatest naval heroes of the past few centuries, includes a chapter on the Barbarossa brothers, early naval strategists in the Mediterranean Sea and Kings of Tunis and Algiers. Another chapter tells of Admiral Engelbert de Ruyter, who defended Dutch interests against pirates in the same region.

Khayr al-Din Barbarossa (c. 1483-1546) and his brother Aruj seized Algiers from Spain and placed it under Turkish rule. As admiral under Süleyman I, he conquered more of the Barbary coast from 1533 to 1544. He twice defeated the great Genoese admiral Andrea Doria and attacked the coasts of Spain, Greece, and Italy. His son Hasan succeeded him in Algiers.

This compendium of French naval science is open to the conceptual representation of the Turkish and western fleets at the Battle of Lepanto. The Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, occurred off a Greek Island.

Turkish forces under Uluç Ali Pasha were confronted by allied Christian forces under John of Austria. 200 galleys drawn chiefly from Spain, Venice, the Papacy, and other Italian states were victorious over the roughly equivalent Turkish fleet. The allied forces lost 7,000 men, nearly a quarter of their numbers, but 15,000 were killed or captured on the other side. About 10,000 Christian galley slaves were freed, and the Turkish navy as it then existed was destroyed. The battle laid low the myth of Turkish naval invincibility, but they retained military supremacy on land. The Turkish navy was quickly rebuilt. One important lesson of the battle was of the limitations of a galley-based fleet against one of more agile sailing ships.

[42] Idled Privateers

Henry Hexham. A tongue-combat, lately happening betweene two English soldiers ... the one going to serve the King of Spaine, the other to serve the States Generall of the United Provinces. (London: 1623).

Political accusations fly fast in this conversation between two disgruntled English soldiers in 1623. One soldier claims that Queen Elizabeth (d. 1603) secretly authorized the shipment of artillery and ammunition to the Moors of Grenada in order to cripple Spain’s interests doubly at the time of a revolt in the Netherlands.

In fact, the state of peace at the beginning of the seventeenth century idled large numbers of English and Dutch privateers who had aided the English war effort. No longer needed, and even opposed by King James, hundreds of them set sail for the Barbary coast, where their assistance was welcomed by the Muslim pirate community. The English and Dutch corsairs were especially valuable in transforming the Barbary pirates from a galley-propelled operation into a more effective and threatening force employing modern sailing technology.

[43] Barbary Pirates

J. [John or Joseph] Morgan. A Compleat History of the Piratical States of Barbary, viz. Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco. ... By a Gentleman who resided there many Years in a public Character. (London: R. Griffiths, 1750).

J. Morgan based this account partly on Laugier de Tassy's "Histoire du Royaume d'Alger.” Morgan introduces his subject in this way:

Our prejudiced ideas of the words Barbary and Barbarian imply cruelty, injustice, irreligion, and even inhumanity. Ignorant people imagine that a Barbarian differs not in temper from the African wild beasts, actuated only by the impulses of ferocity.... But the narratives of many creditable travellers will easily explode such injurious notions. It will hence appear, that there are multitudes of nations in the world, and some in Europe itself, who are more ignorant and savage ... than the inhabitants of Barbary; of which the greatest part are, at present, very humane and regularly governed.

Morgan cites Julius Caesar as the Roman who applied the common derogatory borderland term of "Barbarian" specifically to the territory of North Africa. Presented here is an engraved view of Algiers and environs, including near the center a team of slaves pulling stones on a cart.

[44] Human Rights for All

Anthony Benezet. A short account of that part of Africa, inhabited by the Negroes. With respect to ... the manner by which the slave trade is carried on ... in order to shew the iniquity of that trade. (Philadelphia: 1762).

While European ships contended with possible capture, enslavement, or ransom demands in the Mediterranean, European powers were themselves conducting a lucrative slave trade between Africa and the Americas. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic addressed such topics as reforms in the treatment of African slaves, a policy of Christian conversion, and the abolition of slavery itself.

Anthony Benezet, a French Protestant refugee, lived for years in London, where first became familiar with the Society of Friends. In 1731 he settled in Philadelphia and began a close association with the Quakers there. He worked to expand educational opportunities, first for girls, and then for African-American children. In this pamphlet which proved influential in America, England, and Europe, he argued against slavery in whatever form, focusing principally on the kidnapping of Africans for American servitude, but noted also the practice in that region of enslaving prisoners taken in war. Instead, he submitted that Christians held the obligation of justice, equity and benevolence toward all “fellow creatures of the same species,” whether Jews, Muslims, or black Africans.

[45] French Protection from Barbary Pirates

France. Treaties, etc. Treaty of Amity and Commerce between His Most Christian Majesty Louis the Sixteenth and the Thirteen United States of America. In Treaties of Amity and Commerce. (Boston: Draper & Folsom, 1778).

With their Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and their state of rebellion, the new United States were without the protection of the British flag when sailing near and into the Mediterranean Sea. The States looked to their protector and ally France for assistance also in that region. Ben Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee all signed this treaty for the American government on February 6, 1778.

Article 8 provided that “the Most Christian King will employ his good offices and interposition with the King or Emperor of Morocco or Fez; the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoly, or with any of them; and also with every other prince ... of the coast of Barbary in Africa ... for the benefit, conveniency and safety of the said United States ...”.

[46] A Spy from Algiers?

Peter Markoe. The Algerine Spy in Pennsylvania: or, Letters written by a native of Algiers on the affairs of the United States of America, from the close of the year 1783 to the meeting of the Convention. (Philadelphia: 1787).

At the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, American sailors were held captive on the Barbary coast. An American central government had not yet been formed, and there was little that could be done to address this national concern. This anonymous pamphlet, purported written by an Algerian agent named Mehmet, soon attracted the attention of the delegates. The writer referred to his wife and child back home and wondered at the informality of men and the freedom of women to walk the streets alone and uncovered. He noted as a weakness the unwillingness of Americans to commit to building a system of education. The “spy” viewed the constitutional delegates as trapped in narrow partisan interests and unlikely to unite in their own national interest.

Peter Markoe is credited with authorship, and the work is viewed as helping inspire the move to a strong federal union, coupled with the development of a navy. Born in the Danish West Indies, Markoe was educated at Oxford and served in the Pennsylvania militia.

The Philadelphia publisher, Matthew Carey, issued this work in both English and German editions, helping furnish public information about a region that now frequently attracted public attention. Open to a map of Barbary.

[48] American Captives

James Wilson Stephens. An historical and geographical account of Algiers; containing a circumstantial and interesting detail of events relative to the American captives, taken from their own testimony . (Brooklyn, N.Y.: 1800).

The book is dedicated to Joel Barlow, the American diplomat, who worked for a peace agreement and the release of captive American citizens.

An important work in transmitting information about captives taken for slavery or ransom in the Barbary wars and piratical depredations. The frontispiece illustrates the punishment variously named bastinado, falanga, or falaqa, in which the soles of the feet are beaten by various means, taking advantage of the concentration of nerve endings there. In Muslim cultures, the very act of baring the soles of the feet is considered a humiliation. While this method of torture or punishment is extremely painful for the victim, it leaves limited physical evidence. Its use continues under autocratic regimes in modern times.

[49] American Diplomat and Negotiator

Portrait of Joel Barlow. Engraved by Anker Smith, from a painting by Robert Fulton, the inventor and artist (Brooklyn, N.Y.: 1800).

In 1796, in Washington's second term, Barlow resolved the first American hostage crisis. As the American consul in Algiers, he worked to implement a peace treaty and managed to secure the release of more than 100 American seamen, some of whom had been held captive since 1785. The achievement was a measure of Barlow’s great patience and patent diplomatic skill. He returned to Paris in 1797.

GIFT OF THE MAURY BROMSEN ESTATE

[50] The Secular United States

United States. Treaties, etc. Treaty of peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary. (Brooklyn, N.Y.: 1800).

Issued with the treaties between “His most Christian Majesty”, the King of France, and “His Britannic Majesty”, the King of Great Britain, with the 13 United States were two other treaties between the U.S. and the Dey of Algiers and the Bey of Tripoli, respectively.

Article 11 of the Tripolitan treaty, signed by the American plenipotentiary Joel Barlow, emphasizes the secular character of the American government:

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen — and as the said States have never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Tribute was paid prior to signing and acknowledged by the Bey of Tripoli.

[51] American Heroes

Isaac Bailey. American naval biography. (Providence, R.I.: Published by Isaac Bailey, near the Turk's Head, 1815).

This biographical collection published in downtown Providence includes the careers of Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge, both closely identified with heroic naval actions against the Barbary pirates.

Coincidentally, the book was published in a shop close to a building where the “Turk’s Head,” a figurehead preserved from the prow of a sailing ship, was proudly displayed. The Turk’s Head had been such a beloved local icon in downtown Providence that it was reproduced in granite over the entrance to the Turk’s Head Building, a skyscraper, in 1913.

[52] The Providence/Istanbul Connection

Isaac Bailey. American naval biography. (Providence, R.I.: Published by Isaac Bailey, near the Turk's Head, 1815).

John Brown's ship the George Washington first crossed the sea in 1794 and made trips to China in 1795 and 1796. By the time of her return to Rhode Island, the United States found itself in an unofficial war with France. The federal government desperately needed ships, and Brown saw an opportunity to sell the 624-ton vessel for at least $40,000 in cash and financial instruments. She was refitted as a warship in Rhode Island, with John Brown furnishing the cannon and ammunition.

The government sent the George Washington to Algiers in 1800 with a negotiated payment of tribute to the reigning Dey, in order to protect American shipping in the Mediterranean. Once in Algiers, an unexpected duty was forced on Captain Bainbridge. The Dey maneuvered him into a diplomatic mission to Constantinople, bearing the Algerian ambassador and retinue, 100 African women and children, 150 sheep, plus horses, cattle, lions, tigers, and a large store of precious metals. The captain flew the Algerian flag, as ordered, as he sailed from the port of Algiers. Once out of sight, he hoisted the American colors. As reported in the Providence Gazette, the ship became the first ever to enter the harbor of the Ottoman Turkish capital under the flag of the United States.

Tea was among the goods imported from Canton to Providence by John Brown aboard the George Washington prior to its advantageous sale to the United States.

See Customs certificate, 1795, from the Brown Family Business Papers at left.

Exhibition prepared by dennis landis.
on view in the reading room from October 2008 to february 2009.